Though it’s certainly happening less this generation, we’re still fed the diatribe that Pc gaming is dying, especially when it comes to sales of discrete hardware components. Now that the new generation of consoles is upon us, the death of PC hardware sales should be imminent. Not so, says market analyst firm Jon Peddie Research. In fact, they say PC hardware sales generate over double the income of console hardware.
“We continue to see a shift in casual console customers moving to mobile,” declared the firm’s senior gaming analyst Ted Pollak. “While this is also occurring in the lower-end PC gaming world, more money is being directed to mid and high-range builds and upgrades by gamers.
“Committed PC gamers are generally not interested in pure content consumption platforms. They are power users and pay thousands for the ability to play games at very high settings and then do business, video/photo editing, content creation and other tasks with maximum horsepower at their disposal in a desktop ergonomic environment.”
With Moore’s law still in effect, as PC gaming performance continues to outpace consoles, PC hardware sales are expected to continue their current upswing.
“Nvidia, Intel and AMD have enthusiast CPU and GPUs that are so powerful that, when combined with SSDs and fast memory, they absolutely trounce the computing power and gaming capabilities of the newest console generation,” he stated. “Being able to drive 3840×2160 (4K) is already a reality for the highest end configurations and the mass market is now able to push 2560×1440.
“PC gamers with good displays are able to enjoy millions and millions of pixels more than console gamers get on HDTVs. This translates into being able to see more and an overall better gaming experience.”
According to JPR, the PC gaming hardware market will be valued at $23.2 billion (£13.6bn) by 2017. Console gamers will likely argue that PC gaming hardware naturally earns more revenue, on account of it being priced twice as high. And of course, there are still debates about how much income the PC gaming software market generates compared to console, especially with how easy it is to pirate PC games.
In the end, no matter which way you look at it, gaming – be it hardware or software – is still making a tonne of money, and for those of invested in the medium, that’s a good thing.
Last Updated: July 14, 2014
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 14, 2014 at 10:05
Exactly that. I only want one platform, and I use my PC for more than just games. Although I won’t bother with 4K with my upcoming upgrade cycle – the monitors cost a small fortune. I’m on a budget & 1080p will be just fine.
Spaffy
July 14, 2014 at 10:15
@ 60fps
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 14, 2014 at 10:20
Actually I’m not too fussed about 60fps – although it’s nicer & I aim for it, I’m perfectly fine with 30 too.
Spaffy
July 14, 2014 at 10:21
Yea me too, just throwing that in there for the console gamers 😛
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
July 14, 2014 at 10:22
http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/PC%20Gaming.jpg
Spaffy
July 14, 2014 at 10:23
Doesn’t look like a basement 😛
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 14, 2014 at 10:41
I’m not THAT bald 🙁
campdude
July 14, 2014 at 19:15
Its more comfortable to use the numb pad to move around and play but the picture shows him using default keys. I never understood that default set up WASD.
Matthew Holliday
July 14, 2014 at 11:17
One platform to rule them all, One paltform to find them,
One platform to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
dual screen to TV, xbox controller: profit
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e80/BenDover_za/setupphoto_zps534017aa.jpg~original
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 14, 2014 at 11:26
And the darkness is why you need a backlit keyboard 😀
Sageville
July 14, 2014 at 11:29
Liquid cooled bong…
Matthew Holliday
July 14, 2014 at 11:40
watercooling for days.
lol, nah, hubbly bubbly / shisha / hookah pipe.
Mossel
July 14, 2014 at 12:02
Dude my hubbly looks exactly like that, except blue!
Matthew Holliday
July 14, 2014 at 12:18
does your one also ahve the shitty pipe screw at the bottom that keeps unscrewing itself cus it doesnt fit properly?
driving me frikkin mad dude.
going for something simpler for my next one, maybe back to the pumpkin pots, this ones too big and too much effort.
Mossel
July 14, 2014 at 13:10
Yeah and those bearings. Makes it super hard to smoke. Also opted for the old style hubbly. Although the new ones look awesome, the old ones just smoke so much bettter!
Matthew Holliday
July 14, 2014 at 13:50
even the old style ones atm are new style.
but atleast they come with a 5mm centre pipe, rather than the 2.5mm pipe on the pumpkins, the pumkins smoke amazingly, but the draw is so stiff on them =/
FoxOneZA
July 14, 2014 at 10:06
Tell me about it. I moved over to AMD from Nvidia this weekend and even my lowly entry-level R7 260X performs well at 1080p @ 30-60fps with stuff like FXAA and SMAA on all on high settings.
With the current release of the Pentium Anniversary chip at R800, you could have a decent gaming PC with 1080p for under R4000.
Sith JJ
July 14, 2014 at 10:08
Don’t be silly. PC’s are way too expensive for anyone to afford
FoxOneZA
July 14, 2014 at 10:09
True. And the HDMI cable to hook it up to the TV is too expensive.
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 14, 2014 at 10:10
It’s because of the gold plated connector you totally need right?
Sith JJ
July 14, 2014 at 10:11
Hell yes. That gold makes it MUCH faster and WAY clearer.
FoxOneZA
July 14, 2014 at 10:11
Comes with a free gold tooth 😛
Sith JJ
July 14, 2014 at 10:11
Durban edition?
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 14, 2014 at 10:16
LIKE A BOSS
Sith JJ
July 14, 2014 at 10:06
I can do with a burger now.
Sir Rants A Lot Llew
July 14, 2014 at 10:07
I have this sudden craving for a burger now… Why u do dis Geoff?
Hammersteyn
July 14, 2014 at 10:08
Foooooooooooooood
Umar Fong Wong
July 14, 2014 at 10:17
Could do with a Mighty King Steers burger right now. Large chips and a Sterrie Stumpie.
Could do with a Full house masala steak gatsby too…
Now that I think about it….I kinda want those Norwegian Salmon pieces from Woolworths, the lime and chili ones…
Damn I wouldn’t mind Ice Cream too, with a flakie
Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim
July 14, 2014 at 10:19
That right there is a double double from in-n-out, the best $3 burger on the planet.
Hammersteyn
July 14, 2014 at 10:21
Can’t see any bacon on it :/
Sir Rants A Lot Llew
July 14, 2014 at 10:23
STAHP!
Umar Fong Wong
July 14, 2014 at 10:23
Hopefully they’ll come to SA so we can all stand in line for 3 hours for a burger…
But I must say, it looks mighty yummy though….DAT CHEESE
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 14, 2014 at 10:28
I tried Burger King the other day. It was revolting. DAT PROCESSED CHEESE.
Umar Fong Wong
July 14, 2014 at 10:30
Most burger joints are 🙁 They meat is grey! it makes me want to throw up……………BUT I WANT IT
HvR - Still dislikes Random.or
July 14, 2014 at 10:21
I was truly enjoying my wholewheat avo breakfast broodjie; then Geoff had to post that burger header.
Umar Fong Wong
July 14, 2014 at 10:25
He likes doing that…I was eating my toast and peanut butter lunch a few months ago when he posted a header of a sammich. It’s the risk we take reading LG
Sir Rants A Lot Llew
July 14, 2014 at 10:23
STAHP!!! I are getting hungry. Darnit. I am so buying Steers for lunch today
Umar Fong Wong
July 14, 2014 at 10:26
I’m fasting so all I’m eating Oxygen and will be washing it down with spit
Sir Rants A Lot Llew
July 14, 2014 at 10:28
Eish. Sorry bru. Now Geoff has made it that much harder man
Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim
July 14, 2014 at 10:33
..That’s what…uh…he said.
http://i.imgur.com/YfmYYX8.png
Sir Rants A Lot Llew
July 14, 2014 at 10:36
loooooooooool
Umar Fong Wong
July 14, 2014 at 10:37
You’re so hardcore…………
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 14, 2014 at 10:39
So you can’t eat fast food while fasting? FASTCEPTION!
Umar Fong Wong
July 14, 2014 at 10:40
ROFLOL *Tips Hat*
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
July 14, 2014 at 10:19
All I got from this article is that I could do with a burger… damnit Geoff! DAMNIT!!!
oVg... what castle?
July 14, 2014 at 10:41
DARN IT…
UnholyMunk
July 14, 2014 at 10:22
I thought we’re about 10 years behind Moore’s law now? – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qQE5Xwe7fs
oVg... what castle?
July 14, 2014 at 10:34
Silicon is a dope head 😛
oVg... what castle?
July 14, 2014 at 10:40
LAZER COMPUTERS!!! ?
UnholyMunk
July 14, 2014 at 10:45
LOL! I was thinking more along the lines of quantum computing… The very fundamental system of 1’s and 0’s will need to be changed, but if we can do that, then we’ll literally have limitless computing power 😀 Laser computing is starting to happen though, so it will be the next step before quantum computing I reckon…
Kromas
July 14, 2014 at 10:47
Bio-computing is also quite interesting but just like any other living thing I would forget to feed my computer and then I can’t play BF24 or DOOM 14. 🙂
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 14, 2014 at 10:48
You’d use a buggy computer to play a buggy game?
oVg... what castle?
July 14, 2014 at 10:49
At least the new Diablo will only have 36 Errors.
UnholyMunk
July 14, 2014 at 10:54
I wonder if you’d have to put a blanket over your bio-computer at night if it’s feeling cold, or feed it chicken soup if it gets a virus, flu or otherwise 😉
Ryanza
July 14, 2014 at 10:42
There are more computers on this planet than there are consoles. As the article says, people are buying mid to high end PC’s or upgrading the shit out of their PC’s.
The real question is, why are games not selling so well on the PC. If you look at a recent game, Watch Dogs, there was more sales of the game on the Xbox One than there was on PC.
So is online activation of video games, DRM (Steam, Origin, Uplay), no second hand market, keeping people from buying video games on the PC.
I don’t think you really own a game when you buy it on PC anymore.
The article suggest that piracy is the reason why video games don’t sell well on PC. Now I can’t believe that with the amount of capable gaming PC’s on this planet, that all those people are pirating games. Studies has suggest that piracy is not that big at all. It’s more of a network of people.
It comes down to, PC games require internet to work and PC’s don’t come with internet.
Don’t support DRM.
oVg... what castle?
July 14, 2014 at 10:48
and Solitaire is the most played video game of all time.
Matthew Holliday
July 14, 2014 at 11:10
much of the Watch Dogs console sales can be attributed to the Watch Dogs + PS4 bundle.
but mostly: bad PC ports.
Wasnt impressed by watchdogs at all on PC, felt sluggish and delayed, didnt feel responsive at all, even with mouse acceleration turned off.
games dont sell well on PC because they arent optimised for PC.
Piracy isnt the cause for not having enough sales, its a symptom.
give us the confidence to trust that the developers will give us a game that actually works and the complaints about DRM would probably disappear for the most part.
Ryanza
July 14, 2014 at 11:23
The thing is that you bought Watch Dogs on PC but a lot of people didn’t. My reason for not buying it was down to DRM and Uplay.
Anyway. I really hope that The Witcher 3 sells really well on the PC because of no DRM and develops we can trust to deliver a good game on the PC.
Matthew Holliday
July 14, 2014 at 11:25
i didnt buy it, a friend was disappointed, so he let me use his uplay account to try it out.
Ryanza
July 14, 2014 at 11:26
lol. +1 for not buying it.
Morne Nell
July 14, 2014 at 11:14
Having a capable PC does not guarantee an enjoyable experience. Most PC gamers can’t even run games at full specs without having to upgrade something.
PC’s focus on hardware, but hardware without the software to support gives you nothing. It is actually an insult to think that the consoles is capable of producing performance that was never ever possible on the same spec PC.
Spaffy
July 14, 2014 at 11:28
My 360 has surprised me countless of times
Ryanza
July 14, 2014 at 11:32
You don’t need to play games at full spec to enjoy the experience. Games look fine at mid spec and some games even look fine at low spec. I last checked the settings with The Witcher 2 and I couldn’t tell the difference.
With my last gpu I couldn’t play Batman AC on full spec but that didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the game.
Chasing full specs is a costly affair.
Viking Of Science
July 14, 2014 at 11:33
That’s a common misconception. Even on Mid range Builds Hell even budget builds you can Get a rig that performs as well if not better than the consoles.
Gamespot did 2 builds (1 AMD and 1 Intel) and both had better performance on the multiplats than the console counterparts (Xbox One and PS4) oh… and The Spent $500 per build… so yeah…..
Spaffy
July 14, 2014 at 11:40
Yet Forza amongst others looked great on my 360, so software does have something to do with it.
Granted I mostly game on my PC, coz it does look better, but it doesn’t look that kak on a 360
Viking Of Science
July 14, 2014 at 11:50
I’m not knocking Console Performance… There are games that looked/look great. I’m Just saying that you “Need a Powerful (Read: F***off Expensive) PC to match that performance is a misconception. 🙂
Spaffy
July 14, 2014 at 12:00
Yes that is true.
Too bad my GPU cost more than a new console 🙁
Matthew Holliday
July 14, 2014 at 11:50
seen a couple of those “budget” builds, i compared prices to local retailers, trying to keep as close as possible to the hardware they used.
came out at close to R8000.
our local definitions of budget builds for +-R5000 include no name brand RAM and PSU, R700 motherboards, the nvidia x50ti from 2 series back and AMD “quad cores” that barely out perform intel i3’s
limits performance severely.
then again, places like evetech do have some pretty great deals on upgrade kits.
Viking Of Science
July 14, 2014 at 11:52
Yeah, but also from a software side, you Do save money on games at release. Yes a PS4 in SA is cheaper than a comparable PC. but Spending R800+ for new games versus R450-500? You quickly make that money back you spent on the build.
Matthew Holliday
July 14, 2014 at 12:00
100% agreed.
i still struggle with justifying spending the best part of R10 000 on a pc though.
Viking Of Science
July 14, 2014 at 12:20
Look at it this way… You Spend 10k now… but just the available software library. (Instantly Available) And All the Good F2P experiences. Team Fortress 2, Path of Exile etc. the Wealth of games available as Abandonware… and Need I mention Steam Sales? 😛
Try looking at it on a Annual Scale, Lets call it R15900 (a Console @6300 and 12 AAA games at release (@R800 each) [one game/month]
That’s what A PC and 12 Games (Full price AAA would cost)
The Second year is where you Start to see the benefits.
Note: This is based on buying ONLY AAA games
Sageville
July 14, 2014 at 11:29
Well, given that PC owners need to constantly upgrade I’d imagine these figures to be on the money.
Praise Lord GabeN
July 14, 2014 at 14:09
“need”. Remember that PC hardware doesn’t get magically weaker as time goes by. We just enjoy playing our games at the best quality while the peasants are fed potatoes. My current PC will still outpace the peasant machines 6 years from now.
Rags
July 14, 2014 at 14:40
Yep, only need to upgrade to match the current gen consoles. Anything more is bonus.
Sageville
July 14, 2014 at 23:06
Master race are so easy to bait…
Aries
July 14, 2014 at 11:35
Oh Shit!!! can the peasants understand this!? “Nvidia, Intel and AMD have enthusiast CPU and GPUs that are so powerful
that, when combined with SSDs and fast memory, they absolutely trounce
the computing power and gaming capabilities of the newest console
generation,” he stated. “Being able to drive 3840×2160 (4K) is already a
reality for the highest end configurations and the mass market is now
able to push 2560×1440.”
Sageville
July 14, 2014 at 12:33
I believe the peasants do understand this. They also LOL at the price of said 4k machines.
Then they also LOL coz “Master Race”….LOL
Aries
July 14, 2014 at 12:36
only said that because a friend of mine is dumb and told me that his ps4 on his 4k tv looks better and that the ps4 is more powerful than my pc, didnt want to argue with him
Sageville
July 14, 2014 at 12:38
Well, I’m not denying that there are doff people who play consoles too.
MakeItLegal
July 14, 2014 at 12:15
Yay , all i can say is bioshock infinte on ultra settings is a real treat
HisDivineOrder
July 14, 2014 at 12:55
Why chain yourself to the limitations of a console when you can have the freedom of gaming on a PC? Everything consoles can do, PC’s do better.
Want to game on your couch? Big Picture Mode, friends.
Want to game at the highest resolution at the best framerate? PC.
Want to game with the absolute most precise control method no matter the genre, no matter if that’s controller or keyboard/mouse? PC.
Want to be gaming with the hottest buzzwords long before consoles? PC.
Want to be emulating all the hottest games from yesteryear? PC.
Want the best in movie playback without silly restrictions or limitations? PC.
Want to pay the least for the most games every few months at a Steam Sale? PC.
Really, the question everyone SHOULD be asking is, “Why does anyone ever overpay for a console?” And the answer is, “Because they don’t know any better.”
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 14, 2014 at 13:22
Simplicity – console.